Random Apple Memory - Power Macintosh G4 Cube

Adam Banks recalls when Apple tried and failed to reinvent the desktop computer for the 21st Century

- Adam Banks

As the 1990s drew to a close, Steve Jobs, reinstalled as ‘interim CEO’, had revitalised every strand of Apple’s computer range. But Jobs and his industrial design protégé, Jonathan Ive, wanted to mark the millennium even more strongly.

The concept was simple: a Power Mac would be stripped to its essential components, housed in the minimum possible space; yet desktop-class performance, connectivity, and accessibility would be preserved.